Archive for December, 2008
The world, our world, evolved a while ago into one world.
It’d been happening for decades, helped by technology that enabled information to pass instantly from one side of the planet to the other.
Businesses are interconnected with customers, customers to markets, markets to investors, investors to governments, governments to employers, employers to employees.
And as we’re all seeing at the moment, employees are customers too. Jobs are local. Economies are global. The world is one.
It wasn’t this evolution that’s so remarkable, it was our inability to see it coming.
Not the specific failures of Lehman Brothers, WaMu, etc. But the surprise to realize that we’re already interconnected. That Lehman’s and others’ failures led to constipated credit markets, which zeroed out consumer and business loans, which strangled sales, which led to employee layoffs, who then couldn’t pay mortgages. Vicious, but interconnected
But we don’t see interconnectedness in other areas that effect us just as much as the current front page stories.
Our blindness prevents:
- Environmental responsibility from being the norm
- Holistic medicine accepted as mainstream
- Businesses from looking at the interconnectedness of problems
And in business, if we miss the lesson of the moment, we’re doomed to repeat its failures.
In the Contract Service World
The contract service world is interconnected:
- Employers to managers
- Managers to service staff (in-house & outsourced)
- Service staff to customers (internal and/or external)
- Customers to employers
In “Continents of the Contract Service World” I proposed 4 major areas to understand and improve:
- Customer Experience
- Expectations
- Promise
- Engagement
These are non-traditional areas for service businesses to consider. But then again so was the $700 billion taxpayer bailout of the banking industry.
If businesses can look at their problems as part of a larger interconnected whole, they’ll plan better and implement more successful solutions.
Reality check here.
The auto supplier may have been doing everything perfect, but their business is now in jeopardy. And the Ukrainian steel worker didn’t cause his plant’s closure, but he lost his job, and his family’s income.
There are no guarantees.
But the clearer we view our world, the more options we can create to survive and prosper.
How are you seeing the interconnectedness of your business?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: contract engagement, contract services, customer experience, expectations, service promises
December 15th, 2008
…giving first.
Don’t think December and the holidays have overrun the desire for profit.
But there’s a phenomenon in business about getting after giving. I’m trying to figure it out, beyond altruism and feeling good.
Yes, this phenomenon is the reason permission based marketing exists. But opting-in doesn’t fully explain the reciprocal behavior.
Maybe the idea of giving first to get something has some anthropological connection. That deep in our DNA we’re programmed to recognize worthiness in one another.
What if those who are strong enough, wealthy enough, or willing enough to give first, are the most worthy to receive in return? (strong, wealthy and willing can mean many things, they’re not limited to material wealth.)
What if we unconsciously recognize this in our herd mentality? Give first and you’ll be recognized as worthy when it’s time to receive the candy canes.
Of course, there’s no guarantee you’ll receive anything. But this phenomenon definitely occurs in business, as it does in life.
And in business, isn’t this what salespeople and marketers are fighting for? To have customers and prospects give their attention, interest and commitment. Which is why permission based marketing is so powerful.
How it Works in the Real World
Imagine this, you’re trying to sell something, or get a peer to do something for you. In the course of trying to reach very busy people, you leave emails and voice mails.
In some cases (most?) you don’t get a return call or email. And these may be friends or customers you’ve known for years.
But still, no return contact.
You can understand.
Their Blackberries are bloated. Their voice mail box is maxed. They’ll never use all their frequent flyer miles.
You don’t take it personally, you just keep trying to reach them. And this can go on for weeks.
Then out goes one of your articles or blog posts. Not asking for anything. Just giving something valuable.
Your busy people receive them.
And surprise. The phenomenon occurs.
You get a return email from them.
Attached to the article or blog, they’re saying good things about the article and “by the way, when can you start our project?”, or “yes, will definitely commit to your program”.
Exactly what you were trying to achieve through normal communications. But those vmails and emails didn’t advance your cause.
You were stuck in the mud. Until this strange, but true, anthropological behavior of giving first plays out.
What’s this mean for you and your business?
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: permission based marketing, opt-in
December 8th, 2008
The Green movement is no longer new. Almost everyone has heard about it, yet not everyone would be considered green. Knowing and doing are quite separate matters.
I wrote the following article, published in Ecozome, August 2007, about the rate at which we become green. Some of us are there, others en-route, and some not even started. Read on.
What’s preventing everyone from buying only environmentally-friendly products, recycling, and driving hybrids? What stops us from using the green choices already available? Simple answer: human nature.
We are inundated with information and make more decisions in one day than our parents made in a month. We know we should do things differently. However, quantitatively speaking, most of us haven’t, or aren’t, doing as much as we can.
In becoming greener, society faces two challenges. First, there are hundreds if not thousands of ways to be green. The volume of options can inhibit taking action on a few. “Which ones are important?”, “Which ones should be sacrificed for?” Secondly, green options are voluntary. With few enforceable laws, green is still a choice and until public consensus reaches a tipping point, political mechanisms will remain slow to make green mandatory.
To better understand these challenges, we can take a lesson from the Technology Adoption Lifecycle which illustrates how society adopts new innovations.
First developed in 1957 at Iowa State College, the Technology Adoption Lifecycle was later expanded by Everett Rogers in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations. This research showed that innovations embed themselves into society over time, via specific groups: innovators who introduce the idea; early adopters who first embrace the idea; early and late majority who represent the mass commitment to an idea; and laggards, who are the last to adopt.
Altering the Technology Adoption Lifecycle into a Green Adoption Lifecycle can provide insight into the greening of society.
In the Green Adoption Lifecycle, Innovators make up 2.5% of society today. Innovators have been green for a long time and are wholly active right now. They strive to make as little impact on the planet as possible. They don’t care about raised eyebrows as they grow their own food or make their own clothes. They’ve been riding bicycles and using public transit forever. They’ve been the necessary forerunners for the next category: the early adopters.
Early adopters make up 13.5% of our population. If you’re reading this, you might be an early adopter. You may already drive a hybrid. You definitely recycle something: glass, plastic, aluminum, paper, etc. You’ve been thinking about replacing all your light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights for greater energy efficiency—or already have. You’re most likely a popular, educated leader at work or in your community. As an early adopter, you’re the beacon the early majority category looks to for leadership.
The early majority and the late majority make up 34%, respectively. Early majority is the green movement’s tipping point in terms of adoption. They’re a large number who can make an immediate difference. They’re informal leaders at work and in their community and want to be held in high regard by their friends and neighbors. They care deeply about what others think about them. Although they’ve been aware of environmental issues, they want to be sure the green activities they choose will work. They’re not about to risk their reputations by doing anything ineffectual. The second year General Motors produces an affordable, hydrogen-powered pickup truck; the early majority will buy it.
The late majority will take some time to go green, and only after enough of the early majority has worked out the kinks in the green learning curve. The late majority represents another large population, but they’re risk averse and skeptical of change. They’ll wait for a simplistic, unified green program certified by the EPA and stamped with the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval before they’ll change their behaviors.
Laggards, the last 16%, will wait until green is no longer voluntary. They’ll hold out until incandescent light bulbs are no longer available or garbage services refuse to pick up trash that hasn’t recycled glass. Even then, a number will have to be fined or arrested for non-compliance before finally adopting green choices.
A Green Adoption Lifecycle can help align green expectations with human nature. By recognizing our differences in how we accept change, we can make those changes come about.
How fast are you greening?
~~~~~~
Chris Arlen
President, Service Performance
Technorati: green, ecozome, innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards
December 4th, 2008
